Alleged Bible contradictions, answered

491 questions that sceptics’ lists raise about the Bible, each set out fairly with its passages, answered from the texts, with the other answers Christians give and what is still open.

Creation, the flood and the patriarchs 42

• Were the animals created before or after the first man?
• Did God limit human life to 120 years, when people later lived longer and the psalm speaks of seventy?
• Did Abraham or Jacob buy the tomb at Shechem?
• How could Isaac be Abraham’s “only son”, when Abraham had other sons?
• Were the birds and animals brought forth from the waters or formed from the ground?
• Was Joseph sold to Ishmaelites or Midianites, and who brought him to Egypt?
• Do Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 give two conflicting accounts of creation?
• If whoever sheds man’s blood must die, why was the murderer Cain protected?
• Did human wickedness move God to destroy mankind, or to promise never to do so again?
• Did Noah take two of every kind of animal into the ark, or seven of the clean kinds?
• If seedtime and harvest were never to cease, how could there be seven years of famine?
• Do all animals fear people, when the lion turns aside for none?
• Did Abraham know where he was going?
• Was Abraham past fathering children when Isaac was born?
• Did seventy or seventy-five of Jacob’s family go down to Egypt?
• Did Abraham leave Haran before or after his father Terah died?
• Were plants created before or after the first man?
• Were the stars made after the earth, on the fourth day, or before the earth’s foundations were laid?
• Was the woman created together with the man, or later, after the animals were named?
• Was Adam given every tree for food, or was one tree forbidden?
• Did Adam die on the day he ate the forbidden fruit, as God had warned?
• Was Cain a restless wanderer, or did he settle down and build a city?
• If everyone outside the ark died in the flood, how were there Nephilim afterwards?
• Did Noah enter the ark seven days before the flood, or on the day it began?
• Did the flood last forty days or 150 days?
• How could the ark come to rest in the seventh month when the mountain tops were not seen until the tenth?
• Was the earth dry after the flood on the first day of the first month, or on the twenty-seventh day of the second?
• Was there one language before Babel, when Genesis 10 already lists nations by their tongues?
• How could Genesis call the city Dan in Abraham’s day, when it was named Dan only in the time of the judges?
• Was Melchizedek without father or mother?
• Were the Israelites in Egypt for 400 years or 430?
• Was Ishmael a small child or a teenager when Hagar was sent away?
• Did Sarah believe she would conceive?
• Was Sodom destroyed by the angels or by the LORD himself?
• Why did Lot’s daughters think there was no man left on earth, when Zoar had been spared?
• Was Beersheba named by Abraham or by Isaac?
• Did Jacob rename Luz as Bethel on his way to Paddan Aram or on his return?
• Did Joseph’s brothers find their money at the lodging place or when they reached home?
• Was Benjamin a young boy or a father of ten when Jacob’s family went down to Egypt?
• Was Jacob buried at Machpelah or at Shechem?
• Was Abraham called in Ur or in Haran?
• Was Lot a righteous man?

The law of Moses 48

• Was Moses the meekest of men, when he ordered the Midianite captives killed?
• Did 23,000 or 24,000 die in the plague at Shittim?
• Did God command burnt offerings and sacrifices, or did he not want them?
• Is divorce allowed, and may the divorced marry again?
• Was Moses afraid of Pharaoh?
• If all Egypt’s livestock died in the plague, where did the later cattle and horses come from?
• If making images is forbidden, why did God command the cherubim and the bronze serpent?
• Is killing always wrong?
• Does the Bible ever permit adultery or sex outside marriage?
• Does the Bible ever approve of taking what belongs to others?
• Does the Bible ever approve of lying?
• If the law forbids marrying a sister or close relative, why did Abraham and Amram make such marriages?
• Is it right to swear oaths?
• Were the Israelites to treat the Edomites as brothers, or to make war on them?
• Does the Bible approve of slavery?
• Was the Sabbath given because God rested on the seventh day or because he brought Israel out of Egypt?
• May a man marry his brother’s widow, or is it forbidden?
• Did Moses bring water from the rock at Rephidim by striking it, or at Kadesh by speaking to it?
• Did God forbid Israel to fight Moab and Ammon, and then have Israel fight them?
• Are eunuchs shut out from God’s people, welcomed, or even preferred?
• Was Moses a powerful speaker?
• If all Egypt’s water had been turned to blood, what water did the magicians turn into blood?
• What was inside the ark of the covenant?
• Was the law given by God or through angels?
• Is it wrong to covet?
• Is it right to use perfume?
• Was a Sabbath-breaker to be cut off from his people, or put to death?
• Did Moses receive the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai or on Mount Horeb?
• Did God or Moses write the Ten Commandments on the second tables?
• If God forbade marrying foreigners, why were Joseph and Moses not condemned for their foreign wives?
• Are all winged insects unclean, or may some be eaten?
• Is childbirth sinful?
• Was a man who lay with a menstruating woman unclean for seven days, or cut off from his people?
• Could only priests at the tabernacle offer sacrifices, when Samuel offered them elsewhere?
• How should strangers be treated?
• Should adulterers be put to death?
• Were men guilty of homosexual acts to be put to death, or only driven out of the land?
• Did Korah’s children die with him, or did they survive?
• Did Aaron die on Mount Hor or at Moserah?
• Was the new moon offering two bulls and seven lambs, or one bull and six lambs?
• If Israel killed every male of Midian, how was Midian strong enough to oppress Israel in Gideon’s day?
• Did Moses or Bezalel make the ark of the covenant?
• How should unbelievers be treated?
• Was unleavened bread to be eaten for six days or for seven?
• Were the Israelites to spare the trees of a land at war, or to cut them down?
• If no Moabite may enter the congregation of the Lord, how could Ruth the Moabite be accepted?
• Was Moses still strong at 120, or no longer able to go out and come in?
• Did Moses write the Pentateuch, when it records his own death and praises his meekness?

Israel’s history: Joshua to Esther 73

• Was David offered seven years of famine or three?
• Who killed Goliath, David or Elhanan, and was Elhanan’s victim Goliath or his brother?
• Did Joab count 800,000 men in Israel and 500,000 in Judah, or 1,100,000 and 470,000?
• Did Michal have no child, or five sons?
• Did David take 700 (or 1,700) horsemen from Hadadezer, or 7,000?
• Did David pay fifty shekels of silver or six hundred shekels of gold for the threshing floor?
• Did Solomon have 40,000 stalls for horses or 4,000?
• Did David do right in all things except the matter of Uriah, when he also sinned in the census?
• How could Baasha attack Judah in Asa’s 36th year if he died in Asa’s 26th?
• Did Ahaziah begin to reign in Joram’s eleventh year or his twelfth?
• Was Ahaziah 22 or 42 when he became king?
• Was Jehoiachin 18 or 8 when he became king?
• Why do the lists of exiles returning from Babylon in Ezra 2 and Nehemiah 7 give different numbers?
• How did Saul die: did he fall on his own sword, or did an Amalekite kill him?
• Did the chief of David’s mighty men kill 800 men at one time or 300?
• Did Solomon set 3,300 overseers over the work or 3,600?
• Did the bronze sea hold 2,000 baths or 3,000?
• Did Solomon have 550 chief officers or 250?
• Were the twelve stones from the Jordan set up at Gilgal or in the river?
• Was Ai left a heap for ever, or was it lived in again?
• Did Joshua take Jerusalem, or could Judah not drive out the Jebusites?
• Did Joshua or Caleb drive the Anakim out of Hebron?
• Was Jabin king of Hazor killed by Joshua, or still reigning in the days of Deborah?
• Did Zorah and Eshtaol belong to Judah or to Dan?
• Were Aijalon and Gath-rimmon given out of Dan or out of Ephraim?
• Was Sisera killed in his sleep, or as he stood?
• Did Gideon have seventy sons or seventy-two?
• How long did the ark stay at Abinadab’s house?
• Were the Philistines held back “all the days of Samuel”?
• When did “Is Saul also among the prophets?” become a saying?
• Was Jonathan’s attack at Michmash his “first slaughter”, when he had already struck the garrison at Geba?
• Was Saul rejected as king for the offering at Gilgal or for sparing Amalek?
• Did Saul destroy all the Amalekites?
• Did Samuel see Saul again after the death of Agag?
• Was David already a man of war before he fought Goliath?
• Did Saul know David before the fight with Goliath, or meet him only afterwards?
• Did David kill Goliath with his sling or with a sword?
• When did Saul become David’s enemy?
• Did David pay a hundred Philistine foreskins for Michal, or two hundred?
• Did Saul enquire of the Lord, or fail to enquire of him?
• Did David bring the ark to Jerusalem before or after he defeated the Philistines?
• Did Uzzah die at the threshing floor of Nachon or of Chidon?
• Did David kill the men of 700 Syrian chariots and 40,000 horsemen, or 7,000 charioteers and 40,000 foot soldiers?
• Did Absalom rebel “after forty years”, when David reigned only forty years in all?
• Was taking a census wrong in itself, when Moses and Solomon also numbered the people?
• Did Solomon give Hiram wheat and oil, or wheat, barley, wine and oil?
• How many years passed between the Exodus and Solomon’s temple?
• Was the mother of Hiram the craftsman from Naphtali or from Dan?
• Were the bronze pillars 18 cubits high or 35?
• Did the ships bring Solomon 420 talents of gold from Ophir or 450?
• Was Asa’s heart perfect all his days, when he later relied on Syria and the physicians?
• Did Elisha receive Elijah’s mantle before or after Elijah was taken up?
• Was Gehazi a leper for ever, when he later talks with the king?
• Did God commend Jehu for the bloodshed at Jezreel, or condemn it?
• Did Jehoash reign forty years or sixteen?
• Was Joash buried with his fathers, or outside the tombs of the kings?
• When did Jehoash become king of Israel, if his father reigned seventeen years from Joash’s twenty-third year?
• Did Jotham reign sixteen years, when Kings speaks of his twentieth year?
• Was Ahaz buried with his fathers, or outside the tombs of the kings?
• Was the shadow on the sundial a sign of Hezekiah’s healing or of the city’s deliverance from Assyria?
• Did Josiah die at Megiddo or in Jerusalem?
• Was Jehoiakim succeeded by his son, when Jeremiah said none of his line would sit on David’s throne?
• Did Jehoiachin reign three months, or three months and ten days?
• Was the temple burned on the seventh or the tenth day of the fifth month?
• Were the capitals on the temple pillars three cubits or five cubits high?
• Were five or seven of the king’s advisers taken from Jerusalem?
• Was Jehoiachin released from prison on the twenty-fifth or the twenty-seventh day of the month?
• Did all Saul’s house die with him at Gilboa?
• Did Asa take away the high places or not?
• Did Jehoshaphat take away the high places or not?
• Did Jehoiakim die in Babylon or near Jerusalem?
• How much gold, silver and how many priests’ garments were given for the work: Ezra’s figures or Nehemiah’s?
• How could Haman be an Agagite if Saul destroyed the Amalekites?

Genealogies 38

• Why do Matthew and Luke give Jesus different family trees, through different sons of David and with different fathers for Joseph?
• Was Shelah the son of Arphaxad or of Cainan?
• Why does Matthew’s last set of fourteen generations, from the exile to Christ, seem to name only thirteen?
• Was Keturah Abraham’s wife or his concubine?
• Was Abijah’s mother Maachah daughter of Absalom, or Michaiah daughter of Uriel?
• Why does Matthew’s genealogy leave out some kings?
• How does the curse on Jeconiah fit Jesus’ descent from him?
• Does Matthew’s first set of fourteen generations, from Abraham to David, really hold fourteen?
• How can Jesus be descended from David according to the flesh if Joseph was not his father?
• Who were the sons of Benjamin, and were Naaman and Ard his sons or his grandsons?
• Was Enoch the sixth or the seventh from Adam?
• Was Ham or Japheth Noah’s youngest son?
• Was Laban the son of Bethuel or of Nahor?
• Was Esau’s wife Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite or of Ishmael?
• Was Anah the daughter, the son or the brother of Zibeon?
• Was the Edomite chief Korah a son of Esau or of Eliphaz?
• Which were the twelve tribes of Israel?
• Was Moses’ father-in-law called Reuel, Jethro or Hobab?
• Was Achan the son of Carmi or of Zerah?
• Was Samuel’s firstborn son Joel or Vashni?
• Was Kish, Saul’s father, the son of Abiel or of Ner?
• Why do the lists of Saul’s sons differ?
• Did Jesse have eight sons or seven?
• Was Abiathar the son of Ahimelech or his father?
• Was David’s second son, born in Hebron, called Chileab or Daniel?
• Why do the three lists of David’s sons born in Jerusalem differ?
• Was Solomon Bathsheba’s second son or her fourth?
• Did Absalom have three sons, or no son to keep his name?
• Was Amasa’s father Ithra the Israelite or Jether the Ishmaelite?
• Was Heman the son of Mahol, of Zerah or of Joel?
• Was Asa Abijam’s son or his brother, when both their mothers are called Maachah?
• Was Jehu the son of Nimshi or his grandson?
• Was Zerubbabel the son of Pedaiah or of Shealtiel?
• Why does Chronicles name fourteen sons of Heman in one place and Jehiel and Shimei in another?
• Was the prophet Zechariah the son or the grandson of Iddo?
• Was Mahli a son of Levi, or his grandson through Merari?
• Was Shealtiel the son of Jechoniah or of Neri?
• Which son of Zerubbabel was Jesus’ ancestor: Abiud, Rhesa, or one of the sons named in Chronicles?

Psalms, wisdom and the prophets 25

• Do the righteous prosper, or do they suffer?
• Is wealth a blessing or a curse?
• Is death the end, or will the dead rise?
• Do the wicked live long, or are their days shortened?
• Does wisdom bring happiness or grief?
• Should a fool be answered according to his folly?
• Is laughter good, or is sorrow better?
• Is wisdom good, or is it folly in God’s eyes?
• Is anger ever right?
• Is wine a blessing or a danger?
• Are reward and punishment given in this life or the next?
• Is a good name a blessing?
• Can foolishness be driven out, or will it never depart from a fool?
• Should people tear their clothes in grief and repentance, or not?
• Do the wicked prosper, or does evil slay them?
• If every word of God is pure, why does the Bible contain coarse language?
• Should the righteous rejoice when the wicked are punished, or not rejoice when an enemy falls?
• Do the righteous flourish, or perish with no one taking it to heart?
• Is there anything new under the sun?
• Should we follow our own hearts and eyes, or not?
• Will all flesh see the glory of the Lord, or will the wicked not behold his majesty?
• Would Ephraim return to Egypt or not?
• Was Jonah thrown into the sea by the sailors or by God?
• Should we love our enemies, or call down harm on them?
• Should we pray for everyone?

The life of Jesus 73

• After Jesus was born, did the family flee to Egypt or go back to Nazareth?
• After his baptism, did Jesus go straight into the wilderness or to a wedding at Cana?
• Has anyone but Jesus gone up to heaven?
• Did Jesus preach his great sermon on a mountain or on a plain?
• Should good works be done so that others see them, or in secret?
• Should Christians judge others, or judge no one?
• Did Jesus tell the Twelve to take a staff and sandals, or not?
• Is Jesus’ witness about himself true or not?
• If we are to serve God alone, why are servants told to obey their earthly masters?
• Should Christians pray in public, or only in private?
• Should Christians take no thought for food and clothing, or provide for their own?
• Did the centurion come to Jesus himself or send others to ask him to heal his servant?
• Was Jairus’s daughter dying or already dead when he came to Jesus?
• Did Jesus come to bring peace or a sword?
• Did Jesus heal one blind man near Jericho, or two?
• Did Jesus have all power, when there was a place where he could do no mighty work?
• Did Jesus go into Galilee and call his first disciples before or after John the Baptist was imprisoned?
• Did Jesus break the Sabbath law?
• Was Jesus born in the days of King Herod or at the census under Quirinius?
• Did Jesus teach non-resistance, or the use of force?
• What were the names of the twelve apostles?
• If Jesus’ yoke is easy, why does following him bring tribulation and persecution?
• Is whoever is not with Jesus against him, or is whoever is not against him on his side?
• Did Herod think Jesus was John the Baptist risen from the dead?
• Was the woman who begged Jesus to heal her daughter a Canaanite or a Greek?
• Did Jesus ride into Jerusalem on one animal or two?
• Did Jesus clear the temple on the day he entered Jerusalem, and before or after he cursed the fig tree?
• Did the fig tree Jesus cursed wither at once, or was it found withered the next morning?
• Did Jesus give signs to show who he was, or refuse to give any?
• Did Joseph and Mary live in Bethlehem or in Nazareth before Jesus was born?
• If Jesus told his followers not to fear those who kill the body, why did he keep away from Judea because he might be killed?
• How can Jesus tell his followers to hate their families when Scripture commands honour and love for them?
• Does Jesus commend persistence in prayer or forbid repetition?
• Did Peter learn that Jesus was the Christ from the Father or from his brother Andrew?
• Did Jesus clear the temple at the start of his ministry or in his last week?
• Did Jesus refuse testimony from men, or appoint his disciples to bear witness to him?
• Did Jesus teach anything in secret?
• Should Christians count temptation a joy, or pray not to be led into it?
• Did Jesus teach his followers to dishonour or hate their families?
• Did Jesus heal a blind man at Bethsaida or in Jerusalem, and did he spit on his eyes or make clay?
• Is casting out demons in Jesus’ name a sign of a true believer?
• Who was the greatest: Solomon, John the Baptist or Jesus?
• What is Jesus’ real name?
• Did the Pharisees come to John for baptism, or refuse it?
• Did John the Baptist know who Jesus was before he baptised him?
• At Jesus’ baptism, did the voice from heaven speak to Jesus or about him?
• Why do Matthew and Luke give different numbers of beatitudes?
• Is it wrong to call someone a fool?
• If Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, why does Paul say we do not know what to pray for?
• Did Jesus free one man from demons in the country of the Gadarenes, or two?
• Was the tax collector whom Jesus called named Matthew or Levi?
• Were the disciples sent only to Israel, or to the Gentiles and Samaritans too?
• Did Herod want John the Baptist dead, or was it Herodias while Herod protected him?
• When Jesus walked on the water, did the disciples worship him or were their hearts hardened?
• Did the transfiguration take place six days or eight days after Jesus’ saying?
• Should Christians become like little children or put away childish things?
• Which commandments did Jesus list for the rich young man?
• Did James and John ask for the places at Jesus’ right and left, or did their mother?
• Was the blind man healed as Jesus left Jericho or as he drew near to it?
• If Jesus is the son of David, why does he ask how the Christ can be David’s son?
• May we call anyone ‘father’?
• Was the home of Peter and Andrew in Capernaum or in Bethsaida?
• Did the demons beg not to be sent out of the country or not to be sent into the deep?
• Did Jesus openly declare who he was, or keep it secret?
• If Mary was blessed among women, why did Jesus turn aside a blessing spoken over her?
• Who is the most blessed of women: Mary or Jael?
• Did the Samaritans welcome Jesus or turn him away?
• If John the Baptist recognised Jesus at his baptism, why did he later ask whether Jesus was the one to come?
• Did Jesus first meet Peter and Andrew by the Sea of Galilee or near the Jordan?
• Did Jesus baptise people himself?
• If Peter asked Jesus where he was going, why did Jesus say none of them asked?
• Did Jesus tell his disciples everything, or hold some things back?
• Did Jesus know all things?

The death and resurrection of Jesus 58

• How did Judas die?
• Which women went to the tomb on Easter morning, and how many were there?
• Whom did the women see at the tomb: one angel or two, men or angels?
• Did both men crucified with Jesus mock him, or only one?
• Would the cock crow once or twice before Peter denied Jesus three times?
• What were Jesus’ last words on the cross?
• Did the women reach the tomb while it was still dark, or at sunrise?
• Were the disciples told to go to Galilee or to stay in Jerusalem?
• Did Jesus first appear to the eleven in Jerusalem or in Galilee?
• Was Jesus crucified at the third hour, or was he still before Pilate at about the sixth hour?
• How could Jesus be three days and three nights in the earth between Friday evening and Sunday morning?
• Was the temple curtain torn before or after Jesus died?
• Had the stone already been rolled away when the women arrived?
• Was Jesus crucified after eating the Passover meal, or before the Passover was eaten?
• When did Satan enter Judas: before the Last Supper or during it?
• Who carried the cross: Jesus or Simon of Cyrene?
• How many apostles saw the risen Jesus: ten, eleven, or the twelve?
• Did Jesus pray to be spared the cross, or refuse to ask to be saved from that hour?
• Did Judas point Jesus out with a kiss?
• Was the robe put on Jesus scarlet or purple?
• What was Jesus offered to drink at the cross: vinegar with gall, wine with myrrh, or plain vinegar?
• What exactly did the inscription over the cross say?
• Did the centurion call Jesus the Son of God or a righteous man?
• Did Mary Magdalene know the risen Jesus at once, or take him for the gardener?
• Did the women tell the disciples what they had seen, or say nothing to anyone?
• Was Jesus in paradise on the day he died, though on Easter morning he had not yet ascended?
• Did Jesus ascend on the day he rose, or forty days later?
• Did Jesus ascend from Bethany or from the Mount of Olives?
• Did the Jewish leaders have a law to put Jesus to death, or was it not lawful for them?
• Did the disciples receive the Holy Spirit when Jesus breathed on them, or at Pentecost?
• Did Jesus go apart to pray three times in Gethsemane, or only once?
• Was Jesus taken first to Annas or to Caiaphas?
• Did Jesus answer the high priest with a plain “I am”, or only indirectly?
• Who challenged Peter at each of his three denials?
• Why was the field called the Field of Blood: for the blood money, or for Judas’s death?
• Was Jesus silent before Pilate, or did he answer him?
• Did Jesus cry out “Eli, Eli” or “Eloi, Eloi” on the cross?
• Did the women watch the crucifixion from far off, or stand by the cross?
• Why did the women go to the tomb: to anoint the body, or to see the tomb?
• Were the angels at the tomb sitting or standing?
• Was the angel outside the tomb or inside it when the women arrived?
• Were the women told at the tomb that Jesus had risen, when Mary Magdalene reported only that the body had been taken?
• Was Mary Magdalene full of joy or in tears when she met the risen Jesus?
• Did the risen Jesus send his disciples word to meet him in Galilee, or word that he was ascending to the Father?
• Did Jesus tell his disciples beforehand that he would die and rise again?
• Did Jesus go to his death in anguish, as in Mark, or calm and in control, as in Luke?
• Did Jesus pray the same words the second time in Gethsemane, or different ones?
• Did Jesus drink on the cross, or refuse what he was offered?
• Who buried Jesus: Joseph of Arimathea, Joseph with Nicodemus, or the rulers in Jerusalem?
• Did the women prepare their spices before the sabbath, or buy them after it?
• To whom did the risen Jesus appear first?
• Who put a robe on Jesus: Herod’s soldiers or Pilate’s?
• Did the eleven believe the two disciples from Emmaus?
• Were the disciples terrified or glad when the risen Jesus appeared to them?
• Did Jesus say he would raise the temple in three days, or was that the false witnesses’ invention?
• Was Jesus’ body prepared with spices at his burial, or did the women bring spices afterwards to anoint it?
• Could the risen Jesus be touched before he ascended?
• Was Jesus the first to rise from the dead, when others had been raised before him?

Acts and the letters 29

• Did the men with Paul on the Damascus road hear the voice?
• Is marriage good, or better avoided?
• Is long hair a disgrace for a man?
• Should Christians obey God rather than men, or submit to human rulers?
• May women lead and teach in the church?
• If all Scripture is inspired by God, why does Paul say some of his words are not from the Lord?
• Did Christ command baptism, when Paul says Christ did not send him to baptise?
• Did the men with Paul stand speechless or fall to the ground?
• Did Paul go to Jerusalem soon after his conversion, or only after three years?
• Should we bear one another’s burdens, or each carry our own?
• Does everyone die, or did Enoch escape death?
• Should baptism be in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, or in the name of Jesus?
• Was the Holy Spirit given only after Jesus was glorified, when people were filled with the Spirit long before?
• Did Luke’s Gospel record everything Jesus did?
• Were there about 120 believers after the ascension, or more than 500?
• Was Paul told his task on the road, or later in Damascus?
• On his first visit to Jerusalem, did Paul meet the apostles or only Peter and James?
• Were idol-worshipping Gentiles excused for their ignorance, or left without excuse?
• Was Adam or Eve to blame for the first sin?
• If Christians are to bless and not curse, why does Paul pronounce curses?
• Should Christians try to please other people, or not?
• May a Christian be married to an unbeliever?
• May Christians eat meat sacrificed to idols?
• Did Paul see Jesus on the Damascus road, or only a light?
• Does love believe everything, or should we test what we are told?
• Did Paul encourage speaking in tongues, or discourage it?
• Can the devil take people captive at will, or will he flee when resisted?
• Should believers give an answer to those who ask about their faith, or avoid such talk?
• Is the devil chained, or free to roam?

Who God is 54

• Does God change his mind?
• Is God merciful, or without pity?
• Is God a God of war or of peace?
• Does God punish children for their parents’ sins, or does each person bear his own guilt?
• Can anyone see God?
• Did the Lord or Satan move David to number Israel?
• Does God tempt anyone?
• Does God know everything, or does he have to find things out?
• Does God accept human sacrifice, or forbid it?
• Did God harden Pharaoh’s heart, or did Pharaoh harden it himself?
• Does God grow tired and need rest?
• Is there one God or many?
• How long does God’s anger last?
• Does God create evil?
• Can God do anything?
• Are miracles a sure sign that God is at work?
• Is Jesus equal with God, or is the Father greater than he?
• Can God be known from what he has made?
• Is God impartial, or does he favour some people?
• Does God dwell in light or in darkness?
• Does God ever lie or deceive?
• Was God pleased with all he had made, or did he regret making mankind?
• Does God dwell in temples made by people?
• Does God’s Spirit bring gentleness or violence?
• Who rules the world and owns the earth: God or Satan?
• Can God be tempted or put to the test?
• Does God have one Son or many, and are all people his children?
• Did God create the world alone, or through Christ?
• Did God rest on the seventh day, or does he keep working?
• Did God promise never again to curse the ground, or does he still threaten to strike the earth with a curse?
• Did Abraham know God by the name LORD (YHWH), when Exodus 6 says he did not?
• Was it God or an angel who spoke from the burning bush?
• What is God’s name: I AM, the LORD, or Jealous?
• Does God make people deaf and blind, or do evil spirits?
• Did Moses see God face to face, or only his back?
• If the Lord was with Judah, why could Judah not drive out the people of the valley with their iron chariots?
• Did Satan or the Lord bring Job’s troubles on him?
• Does God destroy the righteous along with the wicked?
• Does God dwell in Zion or in heaven?
• Is God a very present help in trouble, or does he hide himself when people cry out?
• Does God sleep?
• Should we fear God, if perfect love casts out fear?
• Does God say “Fury is not in me”, or is he furious?
• Is God’s will always done in heaven, if there was war in heaven?
• Was the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world, or did Jesus go to prepare a place later?
• Did Jesus raise himself from the dead, or did God raise him?
• Does God love everyone, or does he hate some people?
• Does God have a body?
• Does Jesus judge people, or not?
• Is it God or Satan who blinds those who do not believe?
• Does Jesus send the Holy Spirit, or does the Father?
• Is God the author of confusion, when he confused the languages at Babel?
• Does God forgive sins, when Joshua said he will not?
• Is God alone holy, when he calls his people holy too?

Salvation and the Christian life 27

• Is a person, such as Abraham or Rahab, justified by faith or by works?
• Do those born of God still sin?
• Did Jesus uphold the law of Moses, or was it set aside for his followers?
• Will everyone who seeks God or calls on him be heard?
• May every kind of animal be eaten?
• Is circumcision still required?
• Must the Sabbath still be kept?
• Is there a sin that can never be forgiven?
• Can a believer fall away from grace?
• Does God want everyone to be saved, or does he harden some?
• Did Jesus give his life as a ransom for many or for all?
• Did Jesus lay down his life for his friends or for his enemies?
• Is anyone righteous or good, if “there is none righteous, no, not one”?
• Are we saved by faith, or by works?
• Did animal sacrifices take away sin?
• Do people have free will?
• Is there anyone who does not sin?
• Is God’s law perfect, or was the first covenant faulty?
• Will “the children of the kingdom” be cast out, or will “all Israel” be saved?
• Does God judge people by their words and deeds, or by whether they believe?
• Is there a hell, and does it last for ever?
• Can a thief enter the kingdom of God?
• If Zechariah and Elisabeth were righteous by keeping the law, how can righteousness not come by the law?
• Does a believer’s faith save the rest of the household?
• Are those who rely on the law under a curse, or only those who break it?
• If the former commandment was set aside as weak and unprofitable, how is all Scripture still profitable?
• If whoever confesses that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, what of the demons who called him the Son of God?

Prophecy and its fulfilment 17

• Was John the Baptist Elijah?
• Who was high priest when David ate the holy bread?
• Will the earth last for ever?
• Did Abraham and his descendants receive the promised land?
• Would David’s throne endure for ever, when Psalm 89 says it was cast down?
• Is prophecy certain, or can God change course?
• Why does Matthew credit words from Zechariah to Jeremiah?
• Were Abraham’s descendants to be countless, or few in number among the nations?
• Was David alone when he asked for the holy bread?
• Was Josiah gathered to his grave “in peace”, when he was killed in battle?
• Was the murdered Zechariah the son of Jehoiada or of Berechiah?
• Should we look for signs in the heavens?
• Did Zedekiah see the king of Babylon, and did he see Babylon?
• Was Jonah swallowed by a fish or a whale?
• Did Jesus say he would come before the disciples had gone through the towns of Israel?
• Did Jesus say he would return within his own generation?
• Did Paul teach that the day of the Lord was at hand, or that it was not?

The Bible and the natural world 7

• Does the earth hang on nothing, or rest on foundations and pillars?
• Do snakes really eat dust, as Genesis 3 says?
• Could peeled rods make Jacob’s flocks bear striped and spotted young?
• Does the hare really chew the cud, as Leviticus says?
• Did the sun stand still for Joshua, when day and night were never to cease?
• Do Ecclesiastes and Job describe the water cycle accurately?
• What shape does the Bible give the earth?